The second time felt different.
Not easier.
Not safer.
Just… clearer.
Vee's feet dug into the forest floor as the Nightmaw lunged again, its massive body tearing through the air with terrifying speed. The ground cracked beneath its weight, claws ripping into the earth where he had stood a heartbeat ago.
But he wasn't there anymore.
He had already moved.
His body reacted before fear could catch up—slipping to the side, just outside the beast's killing arc.
His breath came out steady.
Controlled.
"…So this is what dying gets me."
The girl's blade flashed past him, forcing the creature back for a moment. She landed lightly, her stance firm, eyes sharp as ever.
"You shouldn't be able to move like that," she said, not taking her eyes off the monster.
"Yeah," Vee replied, flexing his fingers. "I've been told I'm full of surprises."
The Nightmaw growled low, pacing now.
It had noticed.
Something about him had changed.
Predators understood instinct better than humans ever could—and right now, its prey didn't feel as fragile as before.
That didn't mean it would hesitate.
It attacked again.
Faster this time.
More aggressive.
A blur of teeth and shadow.
"Left!" the girl shouted.
Vee didn't think.
He moved.
The claw sliced past his chest, missing by inches. Wind pressure still cut through his shirt, but he didn't stumble this time.
Didn't freeze.
Instead—
he stepped forward.
The girl's eyes flicked toward him, just for a second.
"…What are you doing?"
"Something stupid," Vee muttered.
The Nightmaw opened its jaws, aiming straight for him.
Too close.
Too fast.
No time to retreat.
But Vee didn't try.
His heart pounded—not with panic, but with something sharper.
Focus.
Because he remembered.
The moment right before he died.
The angle of the jaw.
The rhythm of its movement.
The tiny delay—barely noticeable—between its lunge and full bite.
A flaw.
A single opening.
"…Got you."
He dropped low.
The beast's jaws snapped shut above him with a thunderous crack.
And in that instant—
Vee moved.
He grabbed a broken shard of stone from the ground—jagged, uneven, barely a weapon.
But it was enough.
He drove it upward with everything he had.
Straight into the wounded eye the girl had already damaged.
The Nightmaw screamed.
A raw, distorted sound that shook the trees.
Black fluid burst from the wound, splattering across his hands.
The creature thrashed wildly, staggering back.
"Now!" Vee shouted.
The girl didn't hesitate.
She moved like lightning—closing the distance in a single breath. Her blade cut through the air in a clean, precise arc.
One strike.
No wasted motion.
The Nightmaw froze.
Then—
its body split.
Not cleanly.
Not gently.
But completely.
It collapsed with a heavy, final crash.
Silence followed.
Deep.
Heavy.
Unreal.
Vee stood there, breathing hard, staring at the fallen monster.
"…Did we just—"
"You helped," the girl said, lowering her sword.
"That's all."
Vee blinked.
"…Wow. You really know how to kill a moment."
She finally turned to look at him fully.
Her eyes scanned him—sharp, searching, suspicious.
"You were dying a minute ago," she said.
"Now you're fighting like you've done this before."
Vee shrugged, wiping dark blood from his hands.
"Near-death experience. Very motivational."
She didn't smile.
Didn't react.
Just studied him longer than necessary.
"…You're strange."
"I've been called worse."
A pause.
The forest seemed quieter now.
Too quiet.
Like it was watching.
Waiting.
Vee looked down at the corpse again.
Something about it felt… incomplete.
Then he felt it.
A faint pull.
From within him.
Like something reaching outward—
or pulling something inward.
"…You feel that?" he asked quietly.
The girl frowned.
"Feel what?"
The air around the Nightmaw's body shimmered.
Barely visible.
Like heat waves.
Then—
it moved.
Not physically.
But something left it.
A thin strand of dark energy lifted from the corpse and drifted toward Vee.
His eyes widened slightly.
"…Okay, that's new."
The energy touched him—
and sank in.
No pain.
No resistance.
Just… absorption.
A pulse echoed through his chest.
Stronger.
Deeper.
Real.
Vee exhaled slowly.
"…Yeah."
A small smile crept onto his face.
"…I'm definitely not normal anymore."
The girl's grip tightened on her sword.
"…What are you?"
Vee looked at her.
Then back at his hands.
Then at the dead monster.
A beat of silence passed.
"…Someone," he said quietly,
"who just took his first step."
The wind shifted.
Cold.
Unfamiliar.
And far away—
something else stirred.
Something that had felt the death.
And noticed who caused it